From what I've seen so far WAR seems to be a very PG experience, combat and battle in general doesnt' seem WAR-like at all. Where are the brutal blood and guts that this franchise is know for? When people and monsters die in this game there should blood spraying all over the place. The battlefield should be soaked in blood and broken bodies in RvR.  In every Warhammer game I've ever play the developer always made sure to  illustrate the difference between the WAR universe vs the typical D&D/LOTRO gaming world, and thats GORE. Tons of gore and brutal, horrible, deaths. Where is all that in this game? The combat is tamed and generic wihtout any hint of violence or brutality what so ever. I think Mythic totally missed the boat on this one. This game should've been rated M. Its like playing Mortal Kombat without theblood and  fatalities.

If SoE is serious about EQ 2 then they need to retool the engine. Its the only thing holding the game back, because what this game really need right now is not another expansion, but a fresh look. It is way over due.

If they're not going to bother fixing the craptastic EQ 2 engine then they might as well sink EQ 2 and invest in Vanguard instead.

Anyone who think realm imbalance isn't an issue haven't played DAoC. If Chaos is going dominate the population then it seems WAR will share the same flaw as Mythic's previous game.

Sure being the underdog can be cool, and getting bonuses on a under pop realm is a nice but that will fade, and quickly when you're fighting out numbered 2 to 1 in every keep battle and frontier encounter. Another major problem with being the under pop realm is it tend to bleed population. A few hardcore guilds will stay and some might even relocate to your server but when the word gets out that the realm is getting blasted with zerg raids day in day out, the general population will take a dive as people start leaving for more populated realms on other servers.

Originally posted by andeemann10

Historically Mythic has been very good at giving bonuses to underpopulated realms and such.

And they still haven't solved the pop imbalance in DAoC, I'm sure the same will apply in WAR. In order to truely help the underpop realms Mythic must give them tangible benefits other than xp bonus and temp buffs. Increasing rare drops would do wonders IMHO since ultimately it's about content. In DAoC the Hibs had the least content at launch and spent the entire game being the under dog.

The problem with Vanguard is it lack a decent centralized population center, the world is freaking epic and threre are just too many cities and towns. I know many people wil object to this but they need to slim Vanguard down to just three major cities to make the server feel more alive.

There is no future in EQ 2. After three expansions there really isn't anywhere for this game to go. I think SoE should instead invest in Vanguard, there are great things that could be done with this game if they have the balls to do it.

I think Vanguard's diplomancy is clearly the most innovative feature of the current MMO generation. Its a shock that no MMO to date have bothered to copy this brilliant concept.

In fact failing to polish and provide more hand holding on this aspect of the game is one of Sigil's biggest mistakes. Hopefully when and if SoE decide to relaunch the game they will shower this sphere the attention it deserves. Right now the complexity of launching and leveling a diplo career escapes most players unless you have a wiki and guide handy.

I don't care how they do it, a relaunch or whatever but SoE need to find a way to infuse a large quanity of new players into Vanguard. Since the world is so huge and the population can easily be spreaded out or just concentrated in one small area, Vanguard is a game that requires a large pop to feel alive and healthy. Either reduce the sub fee or just remove it all together, find a way.

As a returning player I'll have to agree with the OP. The population is depressingly low, even on a high pop server like Serandon. Don't get me wrong, I like the changes and Vanguard looks great to me, but there isn't enough players around. At launch the Arena and other chunks used to be brimming with life, now the world is a ghost town. To be perfectly fair, the same applies to other games too, like LOTRO, but there's something incredibly despressing Vanguard's case.

I want to like this game and I want to play this game, but unless there are more people to play with I'll have no choice but leave, again.